EPISODE 14: CHEERS AND QUEERS
Leap 1
There are two friends, two bar tenders and a crowd full of people waiting for a new book to be released. Do you still feel welcomed if these people were homophobic? “The boys in the bar” episode was about a former red sox player, and Sam was listening to his roommates Tom was launching his book and Sam was in it. One of the bar tenders that knows of the friends was quickly to judge the book and say that it is for the jocks. Sam, not reading the book came to his defense. Dianne was trying to get Sam to admit that something was going on, Sam had no clue what the book was about. When Tom asked Sam if he read the book, Sam admitted that he didn’t and that’s when Tom got worried. This book is about Tom coming out and admitting he is gay. Even though Tom tried to play it off as a womanizer while playing, he really wasn’t. Some of Tom’s managers knew that he wasn’t straight but they made him play along. Some people even tried to give him money / pay for his “honeymoon” if he married a woman. He admitted that it is hard to be a baseball player and to be gay. The world and organization will “Black ball” you instead of trying to make it easy to be a gay athlete. Finally when someone asked Sam how he felt about Tom being gay, Sam thought it was a joke. They referred the phrase “catcher & pitcher” because that’s what gay men say (givers or receivers). Sam had to try to explain that he wasn’t gay and Tom was nervous that he just lost another friend to coming out and admitting he was gay. Sam continued to say negative things about being gay and that he thinks that he could only be feminine and not a mans man. Sam’s friend had to calm him down and explain to him that Tom needed him and needs his friends. Sam came out in front of everyone and asked if he still likes his drinks they way that he used to like it. They made it as a joke and tried to make light of the situation. When it came out to the public in the newspapers, people started to think that the bar was going to be a gay bar from now on and made people uncomfortable.
“Two out of three Americans look down upon with homosexuals..” This is why they go underground and they have their own bars and community. They go to a place where others don’t approve of them and they can be themselves. There was a fire in a bar and it was done intentionally. There was a shooting in another bar in 2000 because of a man being made fun of his last name. Another tragic event for gays was the 2016 shooting in a gay club in Orlando, Fl. Gays are always afraid to show how they feel about someone people of the negative looks and attitudes from people. At least in a gay bar, they are allowed to be themselves. With the new movement for gay people, they didn’t even acknowledge the gay community, but instead they were patronizing a white, straight man.
People are nervous and feel awkward when they are around homosexuals. They don’t know what to do because it isn’t the “norm”. In bars, they feel like they could be hit on or that they shouldn’t be there. People are being killed for being queer. Women are getting nervous because they think that there won’t be any more straight men for them to date/marry. If people see gays out, they are most likely to leave the place they are at and go to a new spot. The bar tender said that he knows when someone comes into the bar and is gay by their appearance. He was saying that people were to ugly to be gay or not ugly enough to be gay. When a woman questioned him and asked if he was sure that no one in this bar right now is gay it made him laugh and then think about it. He then said that he knows everyone and their “story” and knows that they aren’t homosexual.
When people in Cheers started to feel uncomfortable, they started to complain, make rude comments, and or leave the bar and say that they will come back when they don’t have any more “gays in here.” They made a comparison of a “butch trying to be masculine and play baseball” comparison and then wanted the bar tender to kick out the gay men. The bar tender then tried to lie and say that the bar was “closing” and that it was “final call.” When the men who have been to the bar before knew that it wasn’t last call and was questioning him. Sam finally stood up to the people trying to kick out them men for being homosexuals. Sam at first was afraid of losing business because of them being gay and the homophobic people weren’t going to come by anymore. Sam said that they are staying and that anyone else can leave if they want to.
This episode was trying to show that being homophobic is a bad thing. During this time (1983), it was looked at more as a problem and frowned upon. Fast-forward to today, it is still being viewed negatively but not as much as a problem and more awkward. Straight people feel awkward about it but the now generation is coming to terms with it.
“A white, straight female is becomes a voice of reason in this episode and viewers see her as a voice for gay rights”. They don’t have a voice for homosexuals, and usually straight people are playing or speaking for gays.
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Cheers' 1983 episode "The Boys in the Bar."
Written, Voiced, and Edited by: Morgan Jaffe
Art by: Jeremy Ferris.